“You have a lot of nerve coming back after twelve years and trying to pick up like nothing ever happened after you left.”
Alicia closed her eyes, inhaled deeply. “I get it. You’re a naval officer who probably has a gal in every port. Well, Lieutenant Sloan, my little part of the world doesn’t have a dock. It’s centered around a four-year-old child. I’m her whole world. And I don’t take risks with it.”
“I get it.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I have responsibilities to Lauren and have no intention of jeopardizing that by dating. Let alone having sex in a dried-up field with a man I haven’t seen or heard from in over a decade.”
“Don’t worry about Lauren. We’ll get her back.”
“I don’t want you to hate me.”
“Never.” He’d never hate her. He’d also never stop wanting her with every part of his being. Never.
Navy SEAL
Surrender
Angi Morgan
ANGI MORGAN writes Mills & Boon® Intrigue novels “where honor and danger collide with love.” She combines actual Texas settings with characters who are in realistic and dangerous situations. Angi has been a finalist for the Booksellers’ Best Award, RT Book Reviews Best First Series, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and the Daphne du Maurier Award.
Angi and her husband live in North Texas, with only the four-legged “kids” left in the house to interrupt her writing. They recently began volunteering for a local Labrador foster program. Visit her website, www.angimorgan.com, or hang out with her on Facebook.
Many moons ago, I graduated high school with a small group of kids. Brian & Johnny are fictional characters but named after two men who won’t be returning at our next reunion. Several of the names in the Sloane brothers’ stories are familiar to my friends, but do not reflect any of their true personalities. All the characters are fictional, but not my friendship with my classmates.
Contents
Chapter One
Join the navy. See the world.
“I don’t think they meant the sandboxes I’ve been playing in.” John Sloane had met and helped a lot of great people around the world. He’d been to several cool cities, nice ports and seen a lot of water. But he never wanted to see most of the places his unit had been deployed again—even in the news.
Back in Texas. Right back where he’d started wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind when he was eighteen. But right now he didn’t care about choices or destinations. He just wanted information on his dad.
He’d returned from a training exercise and was told that his father had suffered a major stroke. When he couldn’t reach the house or his dad, he’d called the police station with no luck. They’d refused to help.
From the message, he knew that his father was alive and at the ranch. He’d arranged extended leave and a ticket back to his hometown. Taking as much time off as he wanted wasn’t a problem. He had a lot stored up. He wanted to be here as long as needed to get his father back on his feet. The only objective so far was to get home.
Two hours in triple-digit heat with the rental’s AC whacked-out had added to his building frustration. He was sailing blind with no information, since his brother hadn’t returned his calls and the home phone seemed to be out of order.
If John was being honest—no sense lying to himself—he hadn’t been the most dependable brother. Or the most communicative. Since they’d learned to open their mouths, Brian had been the twin to tell the world what they needed. Brian had been the responsible one keeping him out of trouble, right up to his last words to him, “Leave and never look back.”
That was exactly what he’d done.
John had followed through on his promise, joined the navy, left the ranch and had never come back.
In the navy, he wasn’t Brian’s twin or Johnny Junior or the baby. He’d quickly risen to chief petty officer and was the man you went to with a problem. He was the guy who got things done. Action, not words.
Then things changed. Promotions after online classes and a college degree. Instead of solving the problems, he followed orders. Now a lieutenant, he was the man responsible if someone got shot. A man who’d been